Premier Dead Sea Will Appeal Israeli Court Decision to Dismiss Case Against Amazon
After a very public move of serving ecommerce giant VP with legal papers regarding Amazon's third-party policies, Israeli judge refused the case defining Amazon's activity in Israel as small and random
NORCROSS, Ga., April 29, 2015 /PRNewswire/ -- After facing a problem when counterfeit and damaged products appeared on ecommerce giant Amazon, Israeli skincare manufacturer and retailer Premier Dead Sea took legal action against the mega-retailer. On October 2014, while in a conference in Tel-Aviv, Amazon VP Werner Vogel was served with legal papers by the Israeli-based company.
Premier Dead Sea is a leading worldwide skincare producer and manufacturer established in 1979 in Israel. The company has been selling its products in the USA via its subsidiary Premier Dead Sea North America. According to Premier Dead Sea CEO Mr. Yuval, third parties set up unauthorized shops on Amazon, selling non-genuine, damaged or expired Premier Dead Sea products which may have an irreversible negative effect on the skin as well as harming the brand's hard-earned reputation. The Israeli-based company sued Amazon in an Israeli court. A similar case was brought in 2009 before the European Court of Justice (L'Oreal V. eBay) and ruled in favor of the plaintiff.
However, it seems that Israeli court Judge Hannah Plinner did not go in the path set by the ECJ ruling. Judge Plinner rejected the case stating Israeli court does not have authority over the matters of a global company which operates in the United States. Since the vast majority of the products on Amazon and its customers are not Israeli, Judge Plinner was not willing to apply Israeli laws on the company, stating it is a foreign company and all of its dealings and contracts are in English.
Internet law expert Guy Ophir who represented Premier Dead Sea in the case called judge Plinner's verdict absurd. "Amazon operates in Israel via an Israeli company called 'Amazon Web Services'. It is an absurd to define a multi-national company that benefits millions of dollars from the Israeli market every year, holds a local company to conduct its business, and spent large sums of money on organizing a conference in Tel-Aviv and flying its senior VP there, as not intentionally operating in the Israeli market and therefore not having to obey Israeli laws."
Premier Dead Sea announced it would appeal to the Israeli Supreme Court and Amazon may still stand trial in Israel.
SOURCE Premier North America
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